Neighborhoods
Anthropic’s Claude has our industry in its crosshairs. OpenAI targets scholarly workflow with Prism. CAS breaks the mold and becomes part of AI infrastructure. Gartner’s sale to G2 and FiscalNote’s big move into prediction markets demonstrate moats of tomorrow. Now UIs and aggregation are crumbling. Just read our analysis yesterday about The Collapse of Aggregators…
…Aggregation is no longer a destination product. As intelligence moves into workflows and AI internalizes discovery and synthesis, value is shifting from human-facing interfaces to embedded, machine-facing infrastructure.
Years ago, we wrote that the next UI was no UI and it’s now coming home to roost whether a company is a publisher, a media operator, an information services company or an aggregator.
While Gen Z is turning retail on its head with thrifting and reading in print again as analog gains favor, too often we see companies referring to themselves as a data company, an information one, a media, events, or workflow & analytics one. Stay in an industry long enough and what’s old is new and what’s new is old. For a while, they ran from their ‘neighborhood roots’ and became a dot.com company or a SaaS one.
Large enterprise information companies professed they were software businesses. “We are not information service providers anymore, Anthea. You can’t position us that way,” said more than one public-company CEO.
I suppose when public, or trying to exit to or from PE, one must travel where the valuations go. So, it came as no surprise two weeks ago when suddenly leaders ran like the dickens from being called a software company. We are a workflow-solutions provider now. We are an information services firm with unique and proprietary content and workflow. We only serve professionals and applications where our highly differentiated content is part of the solution. These are important distinctions but suddenly software was out; information was in.
Or media businesses, amid a sea of zero-clicks began professing they are community and events companies now. Where the moat goes so goes the type of firm one has suddenly become.
Every day, I hear of sectors of the industry slicing themselves off. We are a B2B media company. We are in scholarly communications. We are an events company. Companies want to revert to their own tribes to solve problems that are actually best solved with other neighborhoods.
Years ago, we wrote a book called Neighborhoods of the Information Industry. I used to joke about de-segregating neighborhoods because the internet, then social, then mobile, then SaaS became great equalizers.
And now AI is the mother of all equalizers and it’s happening at lightning speed.
And still I hear organizations wanting to stay inside their tribe to solve for the issues. Guess what? AI, Anthropic, Open AI, Google, don’t care about historical neighborhoods. When Netscape went public in 1995 that horse left the barn. And when Google did 10 years later in August 2004 and spoke to our CEO Network members during their quiet period that June, all bets were off.
And so when leaders persist with ‘neighborhood speak’ to solve existential threats it is the best minds across sectors that crowdsource the solution and share ideas. And we have been bringing those great minds to you for 30 years. Just read the analysis referenced above or attend our CEO Network meetings, most recently in London or New York, or speak with our SMEs. And join us in Florida in early spring.
Recently in conversations about RevvedUP 2026 co-produced by H2K Labs and Outsell, I have heard “Anthea we’re not a media company why should I attend?” Here’s why.
“For years Outsell has produced events that span the entire industry and our collaboration with H2K Labs is no different. This isn’t your typical industry conference. We are bringing together visionary leaders — CEOs, C-suite executives, founders, and strategic operators — for two days of high-impact discussions on AI, data strategy, digital transformation, and sustainable revenue growth. These are not media-oriented topics. They are universal topics. Expect:
- Strategic applicability: The transformation conversations at RevvedUP — around data-driven decisioning, AI-enabled customer insights, and evolving business models — are directly relevant to how we compete and grow today.
- Peer perspectives: You’ll meet senior leaders from outside traditional verticals, offering fresh thinking that can spark breakthrough ideas for subscription engagement, digital product strategy, and platform evolution.
- Actionable takeaways: Past attendees of Outsell events over the last 20+ years and of H2K’s during the last two are CONSISTENTLY noting the practical, execution-focused insights and high-quality networking as major ROI drivers.
Just this morning a day-maker in my email box from one of our CEO Network Members:
“This was a super helpful piece that I have shared with our internal AI Advisory Group. Hugh’s analysis is super clear headed and gave me some good frameworks.”
Another wrote in response to yesterday’s piece on aggregation:
“Must read for everyone in the information industry.”
So before it’s too late, leave the neighborhood. Become a CEO Network member today. And register today to join us at RevvedUP 2026. Rates increase on February 23rd.